Bellini Bowl

There is an American-themed bowling alley, complete with American music and food, tucked away beside Whiteley’s Shopping Center in Queensway. Most of you probably already knew about All Star Lanes…I didn’t.

It’s not that I don’t get out much, but boring, monetary matters do sometimes figure in budgeting for life in London We live in a town where the price of soap can be anywhere from 99p to lots, lots more, and where a cup of coffee is equally stratified. It all depends on the neighborhood you live in, the supermarket you use, or, as far as we are concerned, the restaurant/bar we visit, and the drink we drink.

In regard to our lovely Bellini…well, let’s just say that we’ve seen some of the numbers already. The price of our peachy fizz fluctuates anywhere from the lows of Judi Dench’s trim boycut, to the heights of Lady Gaga’s wondrous wigs.

Bowling is cheap in America, a blue-collar passion where for a few bucks you can have a beer, and some good laughs. A bit more expensive, at All Star Lanes, the atmosphere is total Americana, a bit like a movie set, complete with Americans working the front desk and restaurant. ‘We’re all actors,’ the guy behind the desk told me, as a sort of explanation when I asked if they were all Americans. ‘Oh, actors in the West End? Or actors, as in the theatre of life?’ I joked. ‘Fringe,’ he moaned.

Fringe, All Star Lanes was not. The bartender, not an American but a Brit, knew his business with a capital B, and when I asked how he made his Bellini, he mumbled, ‘with prosecco and white peach puree,’ like I was some kind of an idiot- I mean, why else would I ask, right?  I don’t know what I was expecting, but given the circumstances, I assumed he’d have said, ‘champagne and some sort of pinkish fruit.’ We were at a bowling alley bar, don’t forget!

My All Star Bellini arrived, just in time for a duet with the Bay City Rollers, and stood quite proudly among the mojito and fruit juices ordered. ‘I haven’t heard this music since 1979!’ I cried to my friends. ‘We were born right around then!’ They replied. Oh lordie, I hate being the cocktail-swizzling, elderly auntie type, but somebody has to do it, I guess.

In between bowls, my Bellini proved an amiable companion. She had a gentle fizz (I didn’t get the label), and just enough peachy kick to keep me rolling. Or bowling, in this case. At any rate, it was nothing fancy, but pretty good, the way it ought to be sometimes.

Bellini made with Peach puree (not on the menu by the way, please ask)       £8.00

All Star Lanes

Whiteleys

6 Porchester Gardens

London W2 4DB

Tel 020 7313 8363